Glass Substrate of Flat Panel Display and Display Integrated Circuit Chip

ABSTRACT

An exemplary glass substrate of flat panel display is adapted for an integrated circuit (IC) chip. The IC chip has two opposite long sides and two opposite short sides. The glass substrate includes a display area and a plurality of conductive wires. The display area has a plurality of display elements formed therein. The conductive wires are electrically coupled to the IC chip and the display area, to transmit a signal provided from the IC chip to the display area. The IC chip includes a plurality of output terminals arranged at the long sides and electrically coupled to the respective conductive wires. The present invention also provides a display IC chip for receiving and outputting a first color signal, a second color signal and a third color signal.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority fromthe prior Taiwanese Patent Application No. 097143431, filed Nov. 10,2008, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present invention generally relates to the field of flat paneldisplay and, particularly, to a glass substrate of flat panel displayand a display integrated circuit (IC) chip.

2. Description of the Related Art

Flat panel displays such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) and a plasmadisplay have the advantages of high image quality, small size, lightweight and a broad application range, and thus are widely applied onconsumer electronic products such as a mobile phone, a notebookcomputer, a desktop display and a television, and have graduallyreplaced the traditional cathode ray tube (CRT) displays as the maintrend in the display industry.

Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional glass substrate 10 of flat paneldisplay is adapted for disposing a plurality of gate driver integratedcircuit (IC) chips 12 and a plurality of source driver IC chips 14thereon. The glass substrate 10 includes a display area 11 (as denotedby the dashed rectangle in FIG. 1), a plurality of first conductivewires 13 a and a plurality of second conductive wires 13 b. The displayarea 11 have a plurality of display elements P, a plurality of gatelines GL and a plurality of data lines DL formed therein. FIG. 1 onlyshows one display element P, one gate line GL and one data line DL forthe purpose of illustration, the display element P is electricallycoupled to the gate line GL and the data line DL. The first conductivewires 13 a are electrically coupled between output terminals (not shown)of the gate driver IC chips 12 and the display area 11, so as totransmit gate control signals supplied from the output terminals of gatedriver IC chips 12 to the display area 11. The second conductive wires13 b are electrically coupled between output terminals (not shown) ofthe source driver IC chips 14 and the display area 11, so as to transmitdata signals supplied from the output terminals of the source driver ICchips 14 to the display area 11. Each of the gate driver IC chips 12 andsource driver IC chips 14 includes multiple sides and all of the outputterminals thereof only are arranged at one long side of the multiplesides, resulting in an excessive length for the IC chip and a waste ofchip area, and a region occupied by each IC chip on the glass substrate10 is relatively large correspondingly. Accordingly, an increasedminiaturization of the glass substrate 10 is hindered to some degree.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The present invention relates to a glass substrate of flat paneldisplay, can achieve an increased miniaturization.

The present invention further relates to a display integrated circuitchip, can achieve efficient utilization of chip area.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned advantages, a glass substrate offlat panel display in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention is provided. The glass substrate is adapted for an integratedcircuit (IC) chip including a plurality of sides. The glass substrateincludes a display area and a plurality of conductive wires. The displayarea has a plurality of display elements disposed therein. Theconductive wires are electrically coupled between the IC chip and thedisplay area, so as to transmit a signal provided by the IC chip to thedisplay area. The sides of the IC chip include two opposite long sidesand two opposite short sides. The IC chip has a plurality of outputterminals arranged at the two long sides and electrically coupled to therespective conductive wires.

In one embodiment, the IC chip further includes a plurality of outputterminals arranged at the two short sides.

Another glass substrate of flat panel display in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention is provided. The glass substrate isadapted for a first-type driver IC chip and a second-type driver ICchip. The glass substrate includes a display area, a plurality of firstconductive wires and a plurality of second conductive wires. The displayarea has a plurality of display elements disposed therein. The firstconductive wires are electrically coupled between the first-type driverIC chip and the display area. Each of the first conductive wires is fortransmitting a first-type signal outputted from the first-type driver ICchip to the display area. The first-type signals are for providing asame function applied to the display elements. The second conductivewires are electrically coupled between the second-type driver IC chipand the display area. Each of the second conductive wires is fortransmitting a second-type signal outputted from the second-type driverIC chip to the display area. The second-type signals are for providing asame function applied to the display elements. The first-type driver ICchip includes a plurality of sides, and at least two of the sides have aplurality of output terminals arranged thereat. The output terminals areelectrically coupled to the respective first conductive wires.

In one embodiment, the first-type driver IC chip includes a sourcedriver IC chip or a gate driver IC chip.

In one embodiment, the sides of the first-type driver IC chip includetwo opposite long sides and two opposite short sides. The outputterminals can be arranged at the two long sides, or the two short sidesand one of the two long sides, or one of the two long sides and one ofthe two short sides.

A display IC chip in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention is provided. The display IC chip is for receiving/outputting afirst color signal, a second color signal and a third color signal. Thedisplay IC chip includes a plurality of sides, a plurality of outputterminals, two first color short-circuit line, one second colorshort-circuit line and one third color short-circuit line. The outputterminals are arranged at least two of the sides, and each of the outputterminals is for outputting one of the first color signal, the secondcolor signal and the third color signal. The two first colorshort-circuit line are parallel disposed in the IC chip and electricallycoupled to a first output terminal group of the output terminals whichis for outputting the first color signal. The second color short-circuitline is disposed between and parallel with the two first colorshort-circuit lines. The second color short-circuit line is electricallycoupled to a second output terminal group of the output terminals whichis for outputting the second color signal. The third color short-circuitline is disposed between and parallel with the two first colorshort-circuit lines. The third color short-circuit line is electricallycoupled to a third output terminal group of the output terminals whichis for outputting the third color signal. Conductive wires electricallycoupled between the two first color short-circuit lines and the firstoutput terminal group do not cross the second and third colorshort-circuit lines.

In one embodiment, the sides of the display IC chip include two longsides and two short sides, the output terminals can be arranged at thetwo long sides, or the two short sides and one of the two long sides, orone of the two long sides and one of the two short sides.

In the above-mentioned embodiments of the present invention, sinceoutput terminals of each IC chip are arranged at least two of themultiple sides thereof, facilitating the efficient utilization andminiaturization of the IC chip, and the drawback of a waste of chip arearesulting from excessive length for the IC chip in the prior art isovercome. When the IC chip is applied to a glass substrate of flatdisplay panel, an increased miniaturization for the glass substrate canbe achieved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features and advantages of the various embodimentsdisclosed herein will be better understood with respect to the followingdescription and drawings, in which like numbers refer to like partsthroughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 shows a conventional glass substrate of flat panel display.

FIG. 2 shows a glass substrate of flat panel display in accordance withan embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of any one of gate driver IC chips in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 shows an example of multiple gate driver IC chips in FIG. 2 areconnected in cascade.

FIG. 5 shows another example of multiple gate driver IC chips in FIG. 2are connected in parallel.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of another gate driver IC chip in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of any one of source driver IC chips in FIG.2.

FIG. 8 shows an example of multiple source driver IC chips in FIG. 2 areconnected in cascade.

FIG. 9 shows another example of multiple source driver IC chips in FIG.2 are connected in parallel.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged view of another source driver IC chip inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 2, a glass substrate 20 of flat panel display inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention is provided. Theglass substrate 20 is adapted for disposing a plurality of gate driverIC chips 22 and a plurality of source driver IC chips 24 thereon. Theglass substrate 20 includes a display area 21 (as denoted by the dashedrectangle in FIG. 2), a plurality of first conductive wires 23 a and aplurality of second conductive wires 23 b. The display area 21 have aplurality of display elements P, a plurality of gate lines GL and aplurality of data lines DL formed therein. In this embodiment, FIG. 2only shows one display element P, one gate line GL and one data line DLfor the purpose of illustration, the display element P is electricallycoupled to the gate line GL and the data line DL. The first conductivewires 23 a are electrically coupled between four sides of the gatedriver IC chips 22 and the display area 21, so as to transmit gatecontrol signals outputted from multiple output terminals of the gatedriver IC chips 22 to the display area 21. The gate control signals arefor providing a gate control function applied to the display elements P.The second conductive wires 23 b are electrically coupled between foursides of the source driver IC chips 24 and the display area 21, so as totransmit data signals outputted from multiple output terminals of thesource driver IC chips 24 to the display area 21. The data signals arefor providing display data applied to the display elements P.

Referring to FIG. 3, being an enlarged view of any one of the gatedriver IC chips 22 in FIG. 2. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the outputterminals 220 of the gate driver IC chip 22 are arranged at four sidesof the gate driver IC chip 22, to output the gate control signals to thedisplay area 21 through the first conductive wires 23 a electricallycoupled thereto. Each solid rectangle in FIG. 3 represents one ormultiple output terminals 220. The four sides of the gate driver IC chip22 include two long sides and two short sides.

Referring to FIG. 4, showing an example of the gate driver IC chips inFIG. 2 are connected in cascade. As illustrated in FIG. 4, an externalprinted circuit board 31 a provides a control signal and a power signalto the cascade-connected gate driver IC chips 22 through a flexibleprinted circuit board 32 a. The flexible printed circuit board 32 aelectrically coupled between the printed circuit board 31 a and theglass substrate 20. The printed circuit board 31 a generally has atiming controller and a DC-to-DC converter disposed thereon to providethe control signal and the power signal respectively. The timingcontroller and the DC-to-DC converter are not shown in accompanyingdrawings.

Referring to FIG. 5, showing another example of the gate driver IC chips22 in FIG. 2 are connected in parallel. As illustrated in FIG. 5, anexternal printed circuit board 31 b provides control signals and powersignals to the parallel-connected gate driver IC chips 22 throughrespective flexible printed circuit boards 32 b. The flexible printedcircuit boards 32 b are electrically coupled between the printed circuitboard 31 b and the glass substrate 20. The printed circuit board 31 bhas a circuit configuration similar to that of the above-mentionedprinted circuit board 31 a, and thus will not be repeated herein.

Referring to FIG. 6, the output terminals 220 of each of the gate driverIC chips 22 are not limited to be arranged at four sides the gate driverIC chip, and can be only arranged at two long sides of the four sides asillustrated in FIG. 6, or three sides of the four sides. In FIG. 6, eachsolid rectangle represents multiple output terminals 220.

Referring to FIG. 7, being an enlarged view of any one of the sourcedriver IC chips 24 in FIG. 2 before completing a signal wireconnectivity test. As illustrated in FIG. 7, the output terminals 240 ofthe source driver IC chip 24 are arranged at four sides of the sourcedriver IC chip 24, to output the respective red (R), green (G) and blue(B) signals of the data signals to the display area 21 through the firstconductive wires 23 b electrically coupled thereto. In FIG. 7, eachsolid rectangle represents one or multiple output terminals 240. Thefour sides include two long sides and two short sides. The outputterminals 240 include a plurality of first output terminals 241, aplurality of second output terminals 242 and a plurality of third outputterminals 243. The first output terminals 241 constitute a first outputterminal group to output the red signal. The second output terminals 242constitute a second output terminal group to output the green signal.The third output terminals 243 constitute a third output terminal groupto output the blue signal.

The source driver IC chip 24 in FIG. 7 further includes two first colorshort-circuit lines 245 (e.g., red short-circuit lines), one secondcolor short-circuit line 246 (e.g., green short-circuit line) and onethird color short-circuit line 247 (e.g., blue short-circuit line). Thetwo first color short-circuit lines 245 are electrically coupled to thefirst output terminal group, the second color short-circuit line 246 iselectrically coupled to the second output terminal group, and the thirdcolor short-circuit line 247 is electrically coupled to the third outputterminal group. The first color short-circuit lines 245, the secondcolor short-circuit line 246 and the third color short-circuit line 247are parallel to one another. Conductive wires (not labeled) electricallycoupled between the two first color short-circuit lines 245 and thefirst output terminal group do not cross the second color short-circuitline 246 and the third color short-circuit line 247.

It is indicated that, after completing the signal wire connectivitytest, the connections of the first, second and third color short-circuitlines 245, 246, 247 with the first, second and third output terminalgroups of the source driver IC chip 24 are cut off via laser cutting.

Referring to FIG. 8, showing an example of the source driver IC chips 24in FIG. 2 are connected in cascade. As illustrated in FIG. 8, anexternal printed circuit board 41 a provides a power signal to thecascade-connected source driver IC chips 24 through a flexible printedcircuit board 42 a. The flexible printed circuit board 42 a iselectrically coupled between the printed circuit board 41 a and theglass substrate 20. The printed circuit board 41 a generally has atiming controller and a DC-to-DC converter disposed thereon. TheDC-to-DC converter is for providing the power signal. In thisembodiment, the timing controller and the DC-to-DC converter areillustrated. In addition, the printed circuit board 41 a and theabove-mentioned printed circuit board 31 a can be the same printedcircuit board.

Referring to FIG. 9, showing another example of the source driver ICchips 24 in FIG. 2 are connected in parallel. As illustrated in FIG. 9,an external printed circuit board 41 b provides power signals to theparallel-connected source driver IC chips 24 through a plurality offlexible printed circuit boards 42 b. The flexible printed circuitboards 42 b are electrically coupled between the printed circuit board41 b and the glass substrate 20. The printed circuit board 41 b has acircuit configuration similar to that of the printed circuit board 41 a,and thus will not be repeated herein.

Referring to FIG. 10, the output terminals 240 of each of the sourcedriver IC chips 24 in accordance with the present invention are notlimited to be arranged at four sides of the source driver IC chip 24,and can be only arranged at two long sides of the four sides asillustrated in FIG. 10, or three sides (e.g., two short sides and onelong side) of the four sides, or one short side and one long side of thefour sides. In FIG. 10, each solid rectangle represents multiple outputterminals 240.

It is indicated that the amount of the gate driver IC chips 22 inaccordance with the embodiment of the present invention is not limitedto two as illustrated in FIG. 2, and can be adjusted according to therequirement of practical applications. The gate driver IC chips 22 arenot limited to be arranged at single side of the glass substrate 20, andcan be arranged at double sides of the glass substrate 20 instead. Inaddition, the amount of the source driver IC chips 24 in accordance withthe embodiment of the present invention is not limited to three asillustrated in FIG. 2, and can be adjusted according to the requirementof practical applications. The first, second and third output terminalgroups of each of the source driver IC chips 24 are not limited tooutputting the respective red, green and blue signals, and can beconfigured to output any one of red, green and blue signals as long asthe outputted color signals are different from one another.

In summary, in the above-mentioned embodiments of the present invention,since output terminals of the IC chip are arranged at least two of themultiple sides thereof, facilitating the efficient utilization andminiaturization of the IC chip, and the drawback of a waste of chip arearesulting from excessive length for the IC chip in the prior art can beovercome. When the IC chip is applied to a glass substrate of flatdisplay panel, an increased miniaturization for the glass substrate canbe achieved.

The above description is given by way of example, and not limitation.Given the above disclosure, one skilled in the art could devisevariations that are within the scope and spirit of the inventiondisclosed herein, including configurations ways of the recessed portionsand materials and/or designs of the attaching structures. Further, thevarious features of the embodiments disclosed herein can be used alone,or in varying combinations with each other and are not intended to belimited to the specific combination described herein. Thus, the scope ofthe claims is not to be limited by the illustrated embodiments.

1. A glass substrate of flat panel display, adapted for an integratedcircuit chip having two opposite long sides and two opposite shortsides, the glass substrate comprising: a display area having a pluralityof display elements; and a plurality of conductive wires, electricallycoupled to the integrated circuit chip and the display area to transmita signal provided by the integrated circuit chip to the display area;wherein the integrated circuit chip comprises a plurality of outputterminals arranged at the two long sides, and each of the outputterminals is electrically coupled to one of the conductive wires.
 2. Theglass substrate as claimed in claim 1, wherein the integrated circuitchip further comprises a plurality of output terminals arranged at thetwo short sides.
 3. A glass substrate of flat panel display, adapted fora first-type driver integrated circuit chip and a second-type driverintegrated circuit chip, the glass substrate comprising: a display areahaving a plurality of display elements; a plurality of first conductivewires electrically coupled between the first-type driver integratedcircuit chip and the display area, wherein each of the first conductivewires is for transmitting a first-type signal outputted from thefirst-type driver integrated circuit chip to the display area, and thefirst-type signals are for providing a same function applied to thedisplay elements; and a plurality of second conductive wireselectrically coupled between the second-type driver integrated circuitchip and the display area, wherein each of the second conductive wiresis for transmitting a second-type signal outputted from the second-typedriver IC chip to the display area, and the second-type signals are forproviding a same function applied to the display elements; wherein thefirst-type driver integrated circuit chip comprises a plurality of sidesand a plurality of output terminals arranged at two of the sides, eachof the output terminals is electrically coupled to one of the firstconductive wires.
 4. The glass substrate as claimed in claim 3, whereinthe first-type driver integrated circuit chip comprises a source driverintegrated circuit chip.
 5. The glass substrate as claimed in claim 3,wherein the first-type driver integrated circuit chip comprises a gatedriver integrated circuit chip.
 6. The glass substrate as claimed inclaim 3, wherein the sides comprise two opposite long sides and twoopposite short sides.
 7. The glass substrate as claimed in claim 6,wherein the output terminals are arranged at the two long sides.
 8. Theglass substrate as claimed in claim 6, wherein the output terminals arearranged at the two short sides and one of the two long sides.
 9. Theglass substrate as claimed in claim 6, wherein the output terminals arearranged at one of the two long sides and one of the two short sides.10. A display integrated circuit chip for receiving and outputting afirst color signal, a second color signal and a third color signal,comprising: a plurality of sides; a plurality of output terminalsarranged at two of the sides, each of the output terminals is foroutputting one of the first color signal, the second color signal andthe third color signal; two first color short-circuit lines paralleldisposed in the integrated circuit chip and electrically coupled to afirst output terminal group of the output terminals which is foroutputting the first color signal; one second color short-circuit linedisposed between and parallel with the first color short-circuit lines,wherein the second color short-circuit line is electrically coupled to asecond output terminal group of the output terminals which is foroutputting the second color signal; and one third color short-circuitline disposed between and parallel with the first color short-circuitlines, wherein the third color short-circuit line is electricallycoupled to a third output terminal group of the output terminals whichis for outputting the third color signal; wherein conductive wireselectrically coupling the first color short-circuit lines with the firstoutput terminal group do not cross the second and third colorshort-circuit lines.
 11. The display integrated circuit chip as claimedin claim 10, wherein the sides comprise two long sides and two shortsides.
 12. The display integrated circuit chip as claimed in claim 11,wherein the output terminals are arranged at the two long sides.
 13. Thedisplay integrated circuit chip as claimed in claim 11, wherein theoutput terminals are arranged at the two short sides and one of the twolong sides.
 14. The display integrated circuit chip as claimed in claim11, wherein the output terminals are arranged at one of the two longsides and one of the two short sides.